Dutch retailer Wundermart is using technology from California-based AiFi to roll out its first 20 autonomous convenience stores this quarter.

Wundermart, a company that creates unmanned, data-driven retail marketplaces, will implement AiFi’s computer vision technology into existing stores in Europe to enhance the shopping experience, remove friction at checkout, improve inventory management and deliver in-depth consumer insights.

The computer vision technology will also be implemented in Wunderware, a plug-and-play SaaS package for autonomous retail, available to all existing retailers and formula owners. In the near future, Wundermart and Wunderware plan to open more than 1000 locations equipped with AiFi’s technology.

“The pandemic has caused everything in our lives to shift, including how we shop,” said Steve Gu, CEO of AiFi. “This shift made innovation a requirement, which is why we are pleased to partner with Wundermart to make its unmanned marketplaces entirely contactless. Our computer vision technology enhances Wundermart’s convenient in-store experience and enables shoppers to continue on with their everyday lives in a safe and efficient manner.”

AiFi’s camera-only product provides an easy-to-deploy shopping experience while delivering high standards in product recognition, shopper tracking and receipt accuracy. Wundermart will implement AiFi’s Oasis to track automatic shop replenishments from suppliers, which will enhance performance and data integrity.

Oasis is trained to recognise tens of thousands of items with pinpoint accuracy including shelved products of any size and food that is warm, frozen or fresh, as well as dispensed drinks and more.

Currently, Wundermart customers enter a store, grab their desired items, scan each item and make their payment at the self-checkout kiosk. Once AiFi’s autonomous shopping model is deployed at the stores, customers can choose either to scan their store app or credit card at the kiosk before or after grabbing their desired items. They can then walk out of the store without needing to scan each individual item.

“AiFi’s technology helps us create a delightful, convenient and safe shopping experience for our shoppers,” said Laurens de Kleine, co-founder of Wundermart. “They can simply scan in, select what items they want to purchase and walk out. The system will also be used to improve accuracy of automated restocking, one of the many functions in our total solution for autonomous retail.”

Wundermart will also use computer vision to obtain better insights in consumer behaviour to improve the shop offering and performance. These data are processed inside each store, and AiFi’s technology does not use facial recognition or collect biometric data, which ensures a high level of customer privacy.

Wundermart’s stores vary between 5 and 20 square metres on average and are located in areas such as hotels, offices and transportation hubs. AiFi and Wundermart plan to announce additional store implementations later this year.

Wundermart is a retail-technology company offering turnkey unmanned shop concepts for the hospitality industry. Within two years, and with recent funding from Dutch VC Slingshot, the company has built 70 plus shops in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and is expanding rapidly.

In December 2020, Wundermart launched Wunderware so existing retailers and formula owners could instantly become fully autonomous. As Wunderware is a plug-and-play SaaS and PaaS model, existing retailers can benefit from the technology and redeploy their staff to provide customer service.

AiFi’s AI-powered retail offerings let brands launch checkout-free, fully autonomous and contactless stores. AiFi works with retailers such as Carrefour, Albert Heijn and Zabka. In December 2020, AiFi announced a 370 square metre hybrid autonomous convenience store stocked with more than 2000 SKUs in Shanghai, China.

AiFi has raised $29.5m from investors including Qualcomm Ventures, Cervin Ventues, TransLink Capital and Plum Alley.